Pokémon Legends: Z-A was announced at the Pokémon Day: Pokémon Presents event in 2024. It looks like we’ll be returning to a familiar but rejuvanated city from Pokémon games past in “a vision of beautiful coexistence between people and Pokémon”.
Our first glimpse of the new title showed a glowing Pikachu bounding through a futuristic city. It all looks perfectly idyllic to us, but what do we really know about the new Pokémon Legends game?
We’ve gathered everything we know here in one place, and we’ll be updating the page as new details emerge.
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Pokémon Legends: Z-A will be released on Thursday 16th October.
It will be released simultaneously on the Switch 2 and original Nintendo Switch. The Switch 2 Edition will have an improved performance thanks to a higher frame rate and resolution. Both versions will be available for pre-order from Thursday 5th June onwards.
There will also be a Pokémon Presents on Tuesday 22nd July where we’ll hopefully get a closer look at Legends: Z-A. (And maybe something else if we’re lucky…)
Pokémon Legends: Z-A story and setting
The game is set in Lumiose City in the Kalos region, which we first explored in Pokemon X and Y in 2013.
The debut trailer for Pokemon Legends: Z-A shows old architectural sketches morphing into a futuristic world of glowing wireframe buildings and holographic Pokemon.
It looks like the city is getting a modern makeover, but as we can see from the Prism Tower, it retains its Parisian influences.
According to the official trailer description an “urban redevelopment plan is underway to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon”. There are few story details to go on at the moment, but the icon shown at the 1:51 mark in the announcement trailer suggests that Mega Evolutions will return!
The Z-A title may also be a reference to the mysterious, brooding AZ from Pokémon X and Y. He’s thousands of years old and nurses a serious guilt complex for creating the ultimate weapon. He created it to revive his beloved Pokémon, Floette, but the jury’s out on whether that was an especially wise move. Though judging by how this weapon was powered by Pokémon life forces and all those Pokémon graves on Route 10 of the Kalos region, we’re leaning towards it being a ‘bad move’.
The design of the ‘Z’ and ‘A’ in this game’s logo is also very reminiscent of Zygarde – one of the Legendary Pokémon hailing from Gen 6. This suggests that, similar to how Arceus was the titular legendary for the past Legends game, Zygarde will undertake that role for this new instalment.